Response diversity in corals: hidden differences in bleaching mortality among cryptic Pocillopora species.

ABSTRACT: Variation among functionally similar species in their response to environmental stress buffers ecosystems from changing states. Functionally similar species may often be cryptic species representing evolutionarily distinct genetic lineages that are morphologically indistinguishable. However, the extent to which cryptic species differ in their response to stress, and could therefore provide a source of response diversity, remains unclear because they are often not identified or are assumed to be ecologically equivalent. Here, we uncover differences in the bleaching response between sympatric cryptic species of the common Indo-Pacific coral, Pocillopora. In April 2019, prolonged ocean heating occurred at Moorea, French Polynesia. 72% of pocilloporid colonies bleached after 22 d of severe hea

SUBMITTER: Burgess SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8244046 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature